Snowboarding and skiing are exciting winter sports and the season has just begun. When many begin thinking about starting one of these sports they wonder which to choose. Here are the facts about each to help anyone make the difficult decision.

In snowboarding everyone has a dominant side they prefer, left foot forward is standard and right foot forward is called goofy. When snowboarding, one goes down the hill primarily staying on the edges of the board. Snowboarding is slower than skiing but still goes up to around 125mph at top speed while averaging around 25-35 mph. Snowboarding is considered harder to get the hang of but easier to become very good at. Some of the snowboarders at the school are Katelyn Merten (who also likes to ski), Ollie Buer, Benson Christiansen, and Hannah Christiansen to name a few.

On the other hand, skis come in all sizes ranging from about 25 inches to around 1820 feet 10 inches long (this was ridden by 170 people at once), but when a skier is just getting started, they will want their skis to be about his or her height. To speed up one merely has to point both skis downhill parallel to each other while to slow down one must point their toes together and push their heels out, or someone could turn sideways and go down the hill on the edges. Skiing is slightly faster than snowboarding clocking in at a whopping 157 mph with the average speed being about 10-20 mph. Skiing is considered to be easier to get the hang of and harder to become very good at. The Beckwith family loves skiing along with the Larsons. Spencer Larson is a strong supporter of both.

Despite the recent lack of snow, the ski season is beginning to ramp up. Local resorts such as Sundance, Alta, and Park City are all opening their lifts for operation. Despite our proximity to many popular ski resorts, few students are able to go consistently. Junior Jack Reed said, “I’ve only been skiing once. I would totally go again, but it’s really expensive for just a few hours of fun.” That is true, gear can be very expensive to purchase and  a single adult ticket at Park City Mountain can cost up to $149 for just one day! The price is pretty standard across all resorts, but there are ways to save some cash. At resorts like Sundance and Alta, you can get a cheaper ticket if you go later in the day. Tickets can drop as low as $55 if you buy an afternoon or night ticket. It will be a little bit colder, but it’s definitely worth it and it still gives you an opportunity to see if you even like skiing. Now that the ticket talk is out of the way, we can focus on gear. While most experienced skiers like to buy their own gear, it doesn’t really make sense for students. Helmets, jackets, and pants can be rented for about $10 each depending where you look. Skis, poles, and boots can be rented for about $30 and a snowboard and boots are the same. One popular rental spot is the Ski’NSee Rentals as they have many locations on and off the mountains, but rental spots can be found at the base of any resort. So, after all this, a ski trip can be shaved down from hundreds of dollars to just over $100. This is still quite expensive for students, but much more manageable. So whether or not skiing sounds interesting, be sure to enjoy the winter!